Blower unit for wall heaters



y 1958 H. E. THOMPSON 2,834,279

BLOWER UNIT FOR WALL HEATERS Filed Nov. 10, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I INVEN TOR 'Harl'q E. Thou-505011.

May 13, 1958 H. E. THOMPSON BLOWER UNIT FOR WALL HEATERS 2 Sheets-Sheet2 Filed Nov. 10, 1955 f INVENTOR Harry E Thonzps'on ATTORNEY 2,834,279Patented May 13, 1958 United States Patent Oflfice BLOWER UNIT FOR WALLHEATERS Harry E. Thompson, Steubenfille, Ohio, assignor to The OhioFoundry & Manufacturing Company, Steuben- Ville, Ohio, a corporation ofOhio Application November 10, 1955, Serial No. 546,207

1 Claim. (Cl. 98-38) This invention relates to an improvement in wallheater units of the type usually heated by the combustion ofmanufactured or natural gases and located between the studding of apartition or wall or on the wall of a room.

Under present conditions the heat flows out through downwardly directedlouvers in the front of the standard panel and gravitates toward theceiling of the room space, and of course to some extent radiates byconvection from the panel itself.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a forced airunit to be mounted above the upper end of the standard 'front panel of awall heater for the purpose of causing the air issuing from the standardfront panel to be directed outwardly by suction and velocity pressure tomaintain better diffusion, to heat the lower portion of the room spaceand floor area, before the tendency of hot air to rise from the standardpanel, takes eifect. That is to say, the present invention contemplatesthe provision of a self-contained unit including blower means which maybe conveniently attached or fitted to the upper end of a louvered heaterpanel to force the heated air coming out of the wall heater properdownwardly along the floor area and across the room, as well as indirections to the right or left of the unit, thus heating the entireroom from the floor upwardly before the normal tendency of hot air toascend in the usual fashion. In this way the heater not only becomesmore efficient but provides a more even room temperature from the floorlevel to the breathing level, which is a feature most desired from anytype of heating system, and is diflicult to achieve with straightgravity heating.

Another object of the invention is to provide a novel unit includingstructural features in the form of a blower housing, having openingsthrough which the room air and warmer ceiling height air is drawn intothe blowers and forced downwardly through louvers at the front side ofthe blower unit to intercept and entrain heated air tending to rise fromthe front of the panel.

A further object of the invention is to provide simple and practicalmeans for mounting the unit above the panel.

A still further object is to provide a blower unit whose motors may becontrolled by a manual switch, or by a thermal heat responsive type ofswitch, as required by the user.

With the above and other objects in view which will more readily appearas the nature of the invention is better understood, the same consistsin the novel combination and arrangement of parts shown in theaccompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing the forced air unit mounted on theupper portion of a wall heater panel.

Fig. 2 is a vertical cross section of the unit shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a rear elevation of the forced air unit shown in Fig. 1.

Similar reference characters designate corresponding parts throughoutthe several figures of the drawing.

Referring first to Fig. 1, it will be seen that the forced air unit as awhole is designated generally as A and is intended to be mounted aboveand at the upper end of the main wall panel B, the latter having theusual side and front walls, the front wall including the downwardlydirected front louvers B.

Reverting to the forced air unit A, the same comprises a housing havinga front wall 1, downwardly directed louvers 2, opposite side walls 33, atop wall 4, and, as will be seen from Fig. 2, the unit is open at therear where it communicates with the wall space in the rear of theheater.

The casing of the blower unit is depressed outwardly as shown at 5 inFigs. 1 and 2 to better accommodate the blowers, later to be described.The side walls 3 have air intake openings 3 and the top wall has airintake openings 4 which may be of any geometrical design, such forexample as shown by the elongated slots.

It will also be seen from Figs. 2 and 3 that the top Wall 4 is providedwith an inturned flange 4 and that the side walls are provided withinturned flanges 3 the latter fitting flushly against the wall surface.7 the unit above the panel B, it is preferred to mount the same on ahanger plate P which, as will be seen from Fig. 2,

is in the form of an angle member whose inner and downwardly directedleg is intended to be secured to the wall surface while the outerupturned end and the horizontal connecting web form a seat for receivingthe downturned flange 4 of the casing. The outer flange of the hangerwill prevent the unit from rocking forwardly away from the wall, and theentire hanger enables the weight of the blower unit to be supportedsubstantially independently of the front panel B but in alinementtherewith, as will be seen from Fig. 2.

Concealed behind the front wall 1 and the side walls 3 there is provideda duct member C of angular cross section which extends horizontallywithin the blower casing but preferably terminates slightly short of theinner sides of the walls 33. The duct C includes a deflector wall 6which inclines forwardly, that is, from the rear towards the front ofthe unit, and a horizontal web 7, which receives through suitableopenings therein, the outlet ends 8 of the blowers proper designatedgenerally as D. Thus it will be seen that room space air taken inthrough openings 3* and 4 will be recirculated by the blowers D throughthe duct formed by 6, 7 and the inner faces of the side walls 3 to theoutlets 8 and against the deflector wall 6 so as to forcibly directheated air outwardly and downwardly through the louvers 2 to cross thepath of heat issuing through louvers B of main panel B.

Referring more particularly to Fig. 3, it will be seen that it ispreferred to employ a blower, or as shown, a pair of blowers D operatedby the same motor E from a common shaft. The casings of the blower unitsD will fit into the cavity formed by the outwardly deflected portion 5of the front wall, while as previously indicated the outlets 8 aredirected downwardly toward the deflector wall 6. For the purpose offirmly anchoring the motor and blower units in place, there is provideda two-part clamp 9-10. The 'front portion of this clamp is mediallybowed to fit the motor casing and opposite ends thereof are preferablywelded as at 9 to the inside face of the front wall above and below theoutwardly depressed por- In order to mount,

motor E with the aid of non-metallic gaskets 12, and the inner sides ofthe clamp elements 9 and 10 where they engage with the housing of themotor E, may also be lined with non-metallic sound deadening material inorder that the quiet operation of the blower unit may be insured.

The motor E is suitably connected with available h'ouse current by theleads 13 and 13 which lead into inlet box 14. This box is secured to therear side of the deflector wall 6. The circuit arrangement is such thatcurrent to the motor E may be controlled by a manual switch S on one ofthe outer side walls of the casing or by leads 15 connected with athermally operated switch designated generally as T. Thus, it will beseen that the blower units may be operated automatically or manually, asdesired.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the present invenn'on fulfillsthe object previously stated, namely to provide a forced air unit at thetop of a wall heater to insure heated air to be directed to where itwill be more eflicient and to provide more comfortable living area inroom space to be heated.

I claim:

A wall heater comprising a main front panel having a louvered front walland rearwardly directed side walls, the space between the upper edges ofthe front wall and the side walls being open to permit the escape ofheated air currents, a blower housing surmounting the panel and having alouvered front wall and side and top walls each having air intakeopenings, the bottom edges of said front and side walls being formed forregistry with the correspondingv upper edges of the main panel so thatthe blower housing receives said heated air currents, aforcedair-duct-forming and blowe'r-means-supporting member of angularcross section disposed horizontally across the space between the sidewalls of the blower housing and in the path of said heated air currents,said member including a horizontal shelf portion located at the rear ofthe louvered front wall of the blower casing and a portion inclinedforwardly and downwardly to direct forced air currents toward thelouvered front wall of the blower housing, blower means supported onsaid horizontal shelf portion and including a motor and a casing havingits discharge outlet directed toward the outer face of the inclinedportion of said member, said blower means when in operation drawing airthrough the openings of the side and top walls of the blower housing anddischarging it onto the outer face of the inclined portion of the ductforming member to conduct a forced air blast through the louvered frontof the blower housing and across the path of heat currents rising fromthe louvered front wall of the main panel.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,503,089 Callahan July 29, 1924 2,159,149 Hart May 23, 1939 2,694,971Andrews Nov. 23, 1954 2,733,704 Giwosky Feb. 7, 1956

